James O'Brien: The Similarity Between Anjem Choudary And The Far-Right
19 October 2018, 11:46
James O'Brien points out the remarkable similarity between Anjem Choudary and the far-right.
The Islamist hate preacher has been released from Belmarsh prison today after serving half of his sentence.
There's anger on social media about setting him free, but James points out that far-right extremists should be on his side - after all, he was jailed simply for saying words and they back free speech.
Speaking on his LBC show, he said: "I'm sort of wondering whether the media would have learnt any lessons at all. Recent events suggest not.
"Extremists are still popping up on breakfast television and Newsnight as either subjects of discussion or guests with unerring regularity, whereas I do believe that the best way to have dealt with these people would be to ignore them.
"'Ah but then you're ignoring their legitimate concerns.' No you're not, because you interview them you point out their concerns are complete balderdash and their mad followers just get even more convinced that there's some sort of conspiracy against them.
"So theoretically, all the people on social media with bits of sticky tape over their gobs should be sticking up for Choudary, who actually got sent to prison for saying words.
"For me, two cheeks of the same backside and I'd be happy to never see either of them ever again."
